Rate My Professor Rob Wass

Dr. Rob Wass is a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Educational Design and Innovation (CEDI), formerly the Higher Education Development Centre (HEDC), at the University of Otago, where he serves as Team Leader of Learning Advisers in the Student Academic Skills team on the Dunedin campus. He earned his PhD in Higher Education from the University of Otago in 2012, with a thesis titled 'Developing Critical Thinkers in Higher Education: A Vygotskian Perspective,' which examined the development of critical thinking in undergraduate zoology courses using Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development framework. Prior to transitioning to higher education development, Wass held the position of Senior Teaching Fellow and course coordinator for BIOL112 (Animal Biology) in the Department of Zoology at the University of Otago from 1997 to 2014. His early research included studies on aquatic ecology, such as grazing by black swans in shallow lakes (1996) and steroid hormone profiles in New Zealand longfinned eels (2001).

Wass's research specializations encompass metacognition, assessment practices, peer review, critical thinking, and student engagement in higher education settings. He is currently investigating metacognition awareness as professional development for sessional teachers. His highly cited publications include 'Sharpening a tool for teaching: the zone of proximal development' (Teaching in Higher Education, 2014; 494 citations), 'Scaffolding critical thinking in the zone of proximal development' (Higher Education Research & Development, 2011; 367 citations), 'Good teaching as care in higher education' (Higher Education, 2020; 211 citations), 'An assessment arms race and its fallout: high-stakes grading and the case for slow scholarship' (Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 2015; 173 citations), 'Photovoice as a research method for higher education research' (Higher Education Research & Development, 2020; 105 citations), and 'Student peer review as a process of knowledge creation through dialogue' (Higher Education Research & Development, 2021; 61 citations). Wass has led initiatives such as the Good Teaching Project, the PASS peer learning programme—which earned a national award in 2020—and Teaching and Learning Circles. He received the HERDSA TERNZ Research Medal in 2022 for contributions to first-year student experience research and became the first University of Otago recipient of the HERDSA Fellowship in 2021, developing an academic development mentorship programme. Additionally, he serves on the Committee for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching. His scholarship has amassed over 1,800 citations on Google Scholar.